Tuesday, October 30, 2007

HELPING HANDS

While I complain about Medical Services Plan in British Columbia being so slow with its response, I must thank the kind agents who have talked with me. They were very helpful and courteous with my questions. Much appreciation from a worried political blogger.


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A POST IN DRAFT

OK. So I had a bad blog the other day. MSP in British Columbia still hasn't come through with my medical.

I've pulled my post endorsing the upcoming Sweeney Todd movie. From the previews, the movie is less about plot (corrupt judge sentences innocent man to exile. Exiled man gets terrible revenge yadayada), and more about guts and gore (no, not the one who should be President).

A pity that Tim Burton had to slum with this film because he has a great cast. Johnny Depp, Helen Bonham Carter, and Alan Rickman. Be still my pitter-pattering heart.

Instead, I choose to advise The Golden Compass with the wonderful, and very gay, Sir Derek Jacobi. He's almost as cute as Alan Rickman.

Hey, the fundies hate The Golden Compass for being an atheist film! And a homosexual in a lead role! What more do you need to know? Should give James Dobson and the other religious whackjobs hissyfits for weeks.Caution: The link has some spoilers.

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Monday, October 29, 2007

NOT A PAYING GIG

I am thinking of pulling the plug on RadioFreeCanada. I am burned out and cynical from trying to make it as a writer. I have been at the political commentary gig for two years and it hasn't translated into a paycheque. Friggin' doesn't matter if I get so many hits a week on the blog. I could do it for the love of it if I received comments. None of my audience bothers to write.

I find it hard as a writer to have the isolation. There is too much loneliness with not knowing if the readership gives a damn. If no one wrote but I still received a salary for my work, it might be meaningful. As it is, there is just me and the computer screen.

I have enjoyed writing this blog. The pleasure of writing is not enough if no one bothers to drop me a line and say they care. If you like reading this blog, please say "hi" once in a while.


Anne


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Sunday, October 28, 2007

THE GUN THING
















Well, it seems that disgraced Senator Larry Craig jumped his pistol before solicitating an undercover officer for gay sex in June. Sen. Larry Craig was thinking of suing an Idaho newspaper that was delving into his personal life months before the washroom toe dance with the officer. The suit came to nought and Sen.Craig went onto infamy.

Speaking of guns, presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani believes that blind people should be able to possess firearms. At a town hall meeting, a former police officer who had injuries that left him blind asked about gun possession and disabilities.

Sure! Hell yes! Give the blind guns. At least they could hit better than Dick Cheney who is organizing another hunting party in Poughkeepsie. Dick Cheney once mistook one of his friends, Harry Whittington, for quail and peppered him soundly. Maybe he can take Condi Rice and try the quarter trick on her butt, with a shotgun. A friend of Ms. Rice joked that her posterior was so tight that he could bounce the coin off her gluteus maximus while she danced. He did, without her noticing the coin.

It wouldn't be a waste of a 28-gauge Perazzi.

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

A GREAT MAN

Hurrah for Arnie! Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 821, the bill to ban lead bullets that endangered condors. Not only did he sign that bill but he signed 17 other bills promoted by the Sierra Club. That makes a grand and unprecedented 72% of the Club's list.
Call, write, or e-mail Governor Schwarzenegger. He did a good deed for the environment.


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Saturday, October 13, 2007

I'VE GOT TO KEEP UP WITH THE NEWS

Blushing embarrassed. I didn't realize that Dennis James Kennedy, a prominent Religious Right figure died on September 5, 2007. Mr. Kennedy was an outspoken advocate against gay rights. I have since remedied the tracking problem by creating news alerts on several remaining conservative figures. My apologies. Anne

In other (and more current) religious news, Regent University has suspended a student for allegedly posting a picture of Pat Robertson giving the finger on Facebook.

Adam Key was told to report to mental health services at the University and harassed about Mr. Key's possession of a gun that he denies owning.

Gee, I don't know if Pat Robertson giving the finger is that out of line. The digitus impudicus (warning: the Wiki account shows the finger) is an ancient Mediterranean gesture for thwarting the evil eye . Robertson might need it if James Dobson and other religious conservatives who are disgruntled with the current slate of Republican candidates, form a breakaway political party. This would just be the thing to put the Clintons back into the White House. And, oh, wouldn't Pat Robertson be tempted to flip someone off then?

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Friday, October 12, 2007

I'M WITH STUPID UPDATE

The Sooke school board reprimanded schoolteacher Kathryn Sihota. Sihota is the teacher who refused to give her students a standard reading test after

a little girl burst into tears.

In fairness to Ms. Sihota, here is her speech that she gave at a rally for her defence. My gut reaction to the speech was to feel queasy at the touchy-feeliness of the diatribe. Nowhere in the speech is there mentioned a way how to somewhat accurately measure the students' aggregate performances. While it is good to be concerned about the individual student, that is not how governments determine funding.

Furthermore, life does not coddle. Ms. Shiota's worries that the students are subject to unfamiliar material on the test and that this will somehow damage them is specious. Each day brings some new event or challenge in a person's history. New material on a test only preps kids for adulthood when life will be a constant test.

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BULLETS ARE BAD FOR BIRDS

I realize that this may be a silly title to some but the topic is very serious. Lead in carrion left by hunters is killing off the California condor, an endangered species.

If there are any remnants when a hunter shoots an animal, condors ingest the lead in the corpse. The condors mistake the bullets for the bones that they need for calcium. Since the bullets do not digest, the lead sits in the condor's gut and gradually poisons the condor to death.

Currently, there is legislation, Assembly Bill 821, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, to outlaw lead bullets in California. Please help save the condors. Write to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and ask him to sign the bill.

Here is the letter that I wrote to him:

October 12, 2007

Dear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:

My political blog has an international readership. I have urged my readers to contact you regarding the Assembly Bill 821, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act. Please sign the bill not only for the sake of an endangered species but for the care of the environment.

As a parent, I think it is important to create a healthy world for children. Lead ammunition in the environment is dangerous for humans as well as birds. Condors are an indicator of lead's toxic and fatal qualities to all species.

Please do what is right for the environment and for future generations. Please sign the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act.

Sincerely,

Anne Cagle
http://radiofreedomcanada.blogspot.com

Please write to the Governor.
Thanks,

Anne

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

WORKS OF ART UPDATE

A survivor, Charlie Neitzel is in serious condition. The 21-year-old is recovering at a local hospital.

The dead are:

Katrina McCorkle

Leanna Thomas

Lindsey Stahl

Aaron Smith

Bradley Schultz.

More details emerge from the shooting. The killer used a AR-15 rifle, basically a semi-automatic, to murder his victims. He fled to another town and briefly held a family hostage. It is currently unclear whether a police sniper killed him or he killed himself.

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Monday, October 08, 2007

WHY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS IS WRONG

I read an article in the Vancouver Sun about Christopher Hitchen's visit to Vancouver. I disagree with his stance on the Iraq war because it is not well considered. I know in challenging Mr. Hitchens on his opinions on the war, that I might as well be ingesting poison hemlock for the efficacy of the conversation. However, since I have the personality that likes this kind of challenge ---the bravo gesture such as the time I took down a mugger--- here goes.
Christopher Hitchens is wrong in his support of America's war in Iraq because he thinks it will wipe out Islamic fundamentalism in that country. He is dead-on about that aspect of the war that is troubling. No one would like to see the imposition of sharia law in Iraq. No thoughtful person would want to see Iraq's oil riches in the hands of the Parties of God. However, there are similar "Parties of God" in America that cannot be entrusted to wisely use oil reserves. Politicians, of both the conservative and so-called liberal parties, in that country have strong theological biases. Religion clouds their ethical judgements and their public policies. If the United States captures Iraq's oil reserves , the result will substitute the supremacy of one theological world view for another. The moral equation does not change with an American win in Iraq, just the cast.

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Sunday, October 07, 2007

WORKS OF ART

I gave a groan of horror when I read about vandals who broke into the Musée d’Orsay and punched a hole into a painting,“The Argenteuil Bridge,” by Claude Monet. No cultured person would ever imagine such a deed. To destroy a treasured work is uncivilized. The authorities should severely punish the perpetrators.

I thought this barbarism disgusting until I scrolled down the page to read the other news stories. In Crandon Wisconsin, an off-duty sheriff 's deputy shot and killed six people at a party before himself dying under circumstances that police have not yet released.

Tyler Peterson stormed into the house and began shooting. Some of the victims were young, in their early teens. Others were graduates of the same high school. One victim was 14-year-old Lindsey Stahl. From the news photo, she looks like a pretty redhead. A child that any parent would be proud to call their daughter. Would have been proud to call their daughter.

The four inch hole in the Monet can be easily repaired. The lifelong hurt from these senseless gun deaths won't.

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Saturday, October 06, 2007

AT LEAST THEY KNOW HOW TO SHARE

Who says fundie Christians don't have big hearts?, Despite Oral Robert University president Richard Robert's greed, the Religious Right seems to play nice with each other. Recently Mike Jones, the male escort who dated Ted Haggard, said that disgraced Senator Larry Craig came to him for services. Mr. Jones was rather coy about whether Sen. Craig had received any attention but half the fun is speculation. I'll leave that thought, without further comment , for my readers.

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RELIGION IN THE NEWS

The Religious Right just plops news stories into my computer.

The most notable article from the fundie camp is about Oral Roberts University.ORU president Richard Roberts,son of Oral, is caught up in a scandal that questions his use of university funds.

Allegedly, Roberts has misused donors funds to pay for swanky cars, a red Mercedes convertible for him and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay. He diverted funds for home remodelling, use of the university jet to give his daughter a trip to the Bahamas, and that the university maintains a stable of horses exclusively for the Roberts family. Richard Roberts says that he pays for all family expenses out of his own pocket. An audit is on track for ORU funds.

This would all be simply an accusation of financial impropriety but sex, as it usually does in Religious Right scandals, rears its ugly head. Allegations have been made that Lindsey Roberts suffers from oniomania, shopaholicism with a kink for underage boys. The allegations are that she had a maintenance worker fired to favour one of her underage boy toys for the job. One of those perhaps she text-messaged, at the cost of $800 a month, on cell-phones provided by the university.

Geez, where is God and how can I get my cut of that action? Not the underage boys. Ew. The cash. Being a humanist has not been very lucrative.The Roberts family allegedly gets hot tubs, wide-screen televisions, and fast Internet connections courtesy of the university. They get a private soda vending machine. Perhaps ---just maybe--- if I became a Bible thumping fundamentalist Christian, my revenue would pick up?

Try to sell that one to Focus on the Family in their present economic condition. FOF has laid off 30 people in Constituent Response Services and has reassigned 15 more. FOF has increased its revenue but inflation, the religiously impartial judgement of economics, has cut into the increase in the organization's budget. James Dobson and crew have felt the invisible hand, not of God, but the marketplace.

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Monday, October 01, 2007

THERE ARE NO WORDS

The military junta in Burma has massacred thousands of people, including hundreds of Buddhist monks.

At least four, perhaps six, journalists, have been arrested.

A Japanese cameraman, Kenji Nagai,was shot and killed by military police.
NOTICE: This link takes the reader to YouTube which shows the killing. This video is only for people 18 or older. Although someone my age cannot comprehend the incident.

Hell was not created by any one.... The fire of the angry mind produces the fire of hell . . . When a person does evil, he lights the fire of hell, and burns with his own fire. {Mulamuli*}
*Meaning: "beginning"

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SPEAKING OF MEDS

at a wedding in 1992.

"So drink, tra la la,
Drink, tra la la,
Drink, drank, drunk last night,
Drunk the night before;
Gonna get drunk tonight
Like I never got drunk before;
For when I'm drunk, I'm as happy as can be

For I am member of the Souse family..."


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